Gene Simmons Is Not Happy With The Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame
KISS frontman Gene Simmons said that he and his band will not be performing at this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. While the band is amongst the new inductees, Simmons is not happy with the way the Hall of Fame is treating them.
During an interview with Entertainment Weekly Radio, Gene Simmons talked about how he was contacted by the Hall of Fame and told that while KISS will be inducted, it will only be the original lineup. That includes Simmons, co-founder Paul Stanley, and ex-members Peter Criss and Ace Frehley. It does not include longtime and current members Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer.
Gene said that he and Stanley called and congratulated Criss and Frehley on the induction, and said they would be “proud to stand alongside” them at the Hall of Fame. But once he found out that Thayer and Singer would not be included in the induction, Simmons and Stanley decided to form a protest against performing at the ceremony.
“We said, ‘Oh, OK then, we won’t be playing there. We’ll just accept the award; thank you very much,” Gene said.
He then went on to explain that every member of the Eagles is in the Hall of Fame, and yet, the original KISS lineup – which was together for seven years – will be the only members inducted.
“We’ve been around 40 years. Tommy and Eric have been in the band 20 years — two and a half times longer than Ace and Peter,” Gene said. “You’re going to slap them in the face and we’re supposed to get you a sandwich and make sure you burp at 9 o’clock at night and get up on stage and do it? No, that’s not going to happen.'”
Speaking of their 40th anniversary, Gene Simmons trashed the band’s hometown, New York, according to a February post from The Inquisitr. Simmons said KISS “didn’t make it in New York,” but in Detroit.
“New York is a little too high-falutin, too full of itself,” Gene said.
While Gene Simmons and the rest of KISS will not be performing at the ceremony, the band will be inducted alongside Cat Stevens; Hall and Oates; Peter Gabriel; Nirvana; and Linda Ronstadt.
During an interview with Radio.com, Gene Simmons called the induction “not a big deal, except that it’s a big deal to the fans, especially the older fans.” And while he doesn’t have anything against the Hall of Fame, Simmons isn’t too pleased with how some rap artists got inducted.
“You’ve got Grandmaster Flash in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Run-D.M.C. in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? You’re killing me! That doesn’t mean those aren’t good artists. But they don’t play guitar. They sample and they talk. Not even sing,” Gene Simmons said.
